• Nori Health releases iPhone app for its 8-week digital (chatbot) coach support program provided to Crohn’s & Colitis patients.
• The app is the first CE-certified digital companion of its kind.
• Provided in partnership with pharmaceutical companies and hospitals.

Digital health startup Nori Health launched the iPhone app for its digital chronic bowel disease program. The chatbot is initially used by people living with Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis, with now over 5 million in Europe and the US alone, with expansion to other therapeutic areas planned. Patients can use the CE-certified app to have personal chat conversations with coach Nori to improve lifestyle behavior and symptoms such as pain, fatigue, and inflammation.

The Nori Health chatbot program provides unlimited conversations over an eight-week period, setting it apart from current behavior monitoring healthcare apps. These apps leave the responsibility and pressure on the patient to determine what they need to change, in order to get the results they want. With Nori, the digital coach takes the lead, mapping lifestyle patterns and actively suggesting personalized and tailored habit changes.

The chatbot is armed with scientifically-proven data from the get-go, while AI technology is used to continually make Nori smarter, learning from the whole community of users. Patients can get access to program updates twice a year, to receive fresh insights and evaluate their personal situation.

In addition to chat conversations, patients can also indicate signs of a possible inflammation, This is the cause of many cases of hospitalizations and surgery for Crohn’s and Colitis patients alike. Nori provides actionable tips for direct relief.

“Patients are guided by a chatbot coach in order to offer personalized support at a large scale, something that is otherwise simply not possible. The number of chronic disease patients is growing fast and this is the way forward in managing this”, states Roeland Pater, founder of Nori Health and Crohn’s Disease patient.

Around the world, more than half of adults are believed to be living with some form of chronic disease or condition. In the UK for example, more than 75% of the total health budget* is spent treating long-term and chronic conditions. The cost of treatment is expected to keep rising as people live longer.

Nori Health is currently accessed via invite-only to patients in treatment and medication trials, distributed in partnership with pharmaceutical companies and hospitals. The app is available in English, Dutch and French, and can be downloaded through the Nori Health website: https://www.norihealth.com/

ENDS

* UK Prime Minister David Cameron (16 May 2011): "Already three quarters of the health and care budget goes on long term chronic conditions, and the pressure is going to get bigger."

Endorsement quote
Tineke Markus, ex-CEO of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation in the Netherlands: “There’s clearly a global need for chronic disease sufferers to have access to more healthcare support than simply medication and surgery – we know lifestyle changes can really make a difference, but it can be very difficult for individuals to know whether they are doing the right thing for their particular body since everyone is different. Nori Health’s personalised digital coach is a very welcome and much needed addition to the marketplace.”

About Nori Health
Nori Health was founded in The Netherlands in December 2017. The Nori Health team includes multiple digital health experts, nutritionists and highly regarded gastroenterology doctors.
The Nori chatbot acts as a digital coach for people with IBD to help them improve their quality of life. The program was successfully tested in a first virtual trial in partnership with the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of the Netherlands in January 2019. Nori Health has been nominated for several prizes, including as a startup finalist for The Next Web (2018), Accenture Innovation (2018) and the Future Healthcare (2018) awards.
In May 2019 the company raised €600k in a pre-seed round from informal investors.